your pants on the ground ♪ give it up. >> pants on the ground! >> go. >> that is your last call. lights are blinking and we're closing shop shop. thank you for being with us tonight. we'll see you next time. we'll see you in 2011. the o'reilly factor is next. good night. captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> glenn: well, hello, america. welcome to the program. we have a studio audience tonight here joining me in new york. i have some amazing stuff to share with you, about individual struggle. next year, i am starting a new

direction on the program. and it is what i believe will help us through the next period. e-4. watch for it. to give you a taste of what you're in for next year. except this is going to be an individual discussion, i guess. next year we roll up our sleeves and get involved. if you look at the problems that we have, and what people are saying. people are saying things are bad. things are bad. or i want to be rich. or capitalists are greedy. all of these are lies. i learned are my father when i was pouting. i think i was 35. i still pouted. my father said to me, dad, jeez, i had a tough life.

my dad said i know. he was busy baking at the time. i know, son. you've had a bad life. really hard. i was like yeah, see, you get it. he said i tell you what, i got bread in the oven. do me a favor and make a list of all the things that are bad in your life, all the horrible things that have happened. and call me tonight. i called him back in ten minutes, and i said you don't even have bread in the oven, do you dad? he just laughed, and you said you figured it out that fast? i said yeah, as i started to make a list of the things that were bad that happened in my life, i realize if those things, that wouldn't have happened, and this wouldn't have happened and i wouldn't be where i am today. things are bad? no. things may be tough but they're the way they're supposed to be. for you and for me. i want to be rich. i have to tell you something.

i know a wealthy guy. you'll meet him in a second. you want to talk about rich? i figure out how you become a billionaire. you become a billionaire by inventing something that goes into all of these products. everything. everything. almost everything that you eat, almost your car. everything. this guy invented something that goes into all of it. it's incredible. he is the richest man i know but it has nothing to do with money. i have to tell you. i wouldn't want his life. i wouldn't want it. not worth it. the other is capitalists are greedy. this is a lie. this is a lie. this is a lie. tonight, you'll find out why. tonight i'll prove all of

those a lie. and we'll do one other thing. you remember i told you about the tower of babel and how nimrod -- did anybody see that episode? you saw that? what is the mortar that went in between the bricks? do you remember? me -- materialism. materialism. if our termism goes away, what do we have left? we have to concentrate on things of real value. last week i was in new orleans and dallas. i decided to go a different way for the show. right before the show was on i was out with bill o'reilly and i decided i was going to do poetry. yeah, you never know what you'll get when you buy a ticket to my show. i told the story of the three

little pigs. i read a poem that's phenomenal from robert kipling that tells us everything we need to know. then i read the words of "america the beautiful" and the star spangle banner. i showed the audience that the answer to our problems is everywhere. the answer we're looking for has been embedded in our poetry, in our paintings and our music. may i give you the words of america the beautiful. second or third stanza. oh beautiful, for heroes prove in liberating strife. what does that mean? heroes don't become heroes because they're born a hero. they have to be proven. in what? in strife. not just strife. but liberating strife.

liberating strife. that must mean that strife is good. yet in our country now, we're taught that strife is bad. that strife is enslaving. we are told that struggles should about happen. failure shouldn't happen. failure is liberating. heroes prove through liberating strife through more themselves their country loved and mercy more than life. america, america. may god by gold refine. until all success be nobleless. and every gain divine. wow! things are bad. our country is coming apart at the seams. maybe it's because our succe

successes aren't noble and our gains aren't divine. the truth matters. struggle and strife is liberating. but we don't necessarily learn from it maybe because we don't have a dad busy baking bread. this is all i know. tell me about your strife and struggles. we don't figure it out. tonight i want to show you a man who has struggled and who has done amazing things in his life. but with honor and integrity every step of the way. you want to foe -- know how to fix our country? maybe we can learn from john. watch. ♪ ♪ >> john huntsman senior, founder of the huntsman corporation. a global chemical company, brought us the styrofoam egg container and the famed big mac clam shell. there is not a day that goes by in your life that one of

john's products doesn't touch you. because of that, one of the richest men. who achieved the american dream and then some. the road leaving him to today has been paved with struggle. as a teenager, he lives with his brother in a home of cardboard walls. his work ethic embedded from his childhood got him noted. the paper tycoon saw something in him and granted him scholarship to pennsylvania wharton school of business where john learned his craft. he married karen and raised nine children. he was the definition of the american dream. then in 1987, tragedy struck the family. while huntsman and his wife were away at a company christmas party in ohio, their son james huntsman then 16 was

kidnapped. $1 million randsome was demanded and a phone call was placed to the family. traced to the grocery store. the kidnapper on the phone with john was grabbed by an agent and the agent was stabbed in the chest and nearly died and james was returned to the family but a memory they will never forget. the business world has been no cake walk either. he rescued his company from bankruptcy several times and personally went to battle for it two years ago. long after he had retired as ceo. his company agree to buy-out by apollo management until they called and said the deal was off. it would have let john fully fund his cancer institute. but the deal drop tanked his stock to $2 a share. so he took apollo to court in delaware and won. this case is one reason why huntsman insists the business

ethics be taught at utah state and his alma mater wharton school of business where he made generous contributions. huntsman has now given away $1.2 billion in the past ten years. his plan is to die broke and give all of his money to charity. his most well-known cause is the huntsman cancer institute. he and his wife founded it in 1995 to find a cure for cancer, his life goal. it's a disease that struck him personally. three times. and claimed the life of his mother who died in his arms. his father died from cancer, as did his stepmother. it's one of the many causes that the huntsman name is dedicated to. huntsman, unabashed capitalist. his business allowed him to pursue his philanthropic empire. the road has not always been easy. when others might have taken a

less ethical route john took the higher route. he said in his book "winners never cheat. even in difficult times." he is the story of one man, despite struggles proved the power of one makes the difference. [ applause ] >> glenn: joining me now is john huntsman senior, founder and chairman of the huntsman corporation and the author of winners never cheat. i cannot recommend this book highly enough. this is a life-changing book. the problem in america so many times now is we don't believe it can be done, because we don't see anybody doing it. he has. he has it's a much better way to go. john huntsman, welcome, sir. >> thank you, glenn. great to be with you. >> glenn: john is a good friend of mine. in fact, he's a fishing

companion of mine. we meet three years, four years ago? >> four years. >> glenn: four years ago. i didn't know anything about john when a mutual friend of ours said you guys should get together. john huntsman would like to take you to lunch. i thought what is it like to go to lunch with a billionaire. he took me to a hospital cafeteria. we got to know each other there and have been friends ever since. john, i watched you two years ago with apollo. is that fair to say? two years ago? >> yes. >> glenn: i watched you from being no offense, a young vibrant man to being worried that my older friend was going to die. i thought that was going to kill you. and you said -- correct me if i'm wrong -- it was because, i

got the impression, it was because you couldn't believe that business was done this way anymore. is that right? >> yes, that is right, glenn. when a contract is signed, it's an ironclad contract. when a man shake another man happened it -- hand it's a contract. >> glenn: you flew the people out because you do business by a handshake. >> i try to, yes. >> glenn: there was a contract but you flew them out at your expense after the deal to shake their hands and look you in the eye. when they wanted to get out of it, they did everything they could to get out of it. >> correct. >> glenn: you took them to court. i remember you looking at me and saying glenn, if you can't do business, if you can't be

honest. i remember you looking out to the city and saying none of this works. what did you mean by that? >> it's very simple. glenn, in life, our word is our bond. our handshake is the most important ingredient we have. it's our honor, our character. it's everything about the american dream. if we don't have that, we don't have life. life doesn't mean anything. there is no integrity. it's a pretty simple way of life. like when i see you out on the river fishing and you say john, look at this one. it's an 18-incher. i say it's only 14 inches. [ laughter ] the point of it is, we can't conduct life unless we have sense of honor and integrity about what we do. >> glenn: is that the problem in the country right now business wise?

what is the problem? as businessman, what is the problem with the country? >> the single biggest problem we have today in america is your focus is on greed and the accumulation of wealth. the accumulation of wealth, i'm going to paraphrase my old friend i wish he was a friend andrew carnegie who said we're temporary trustees in order to help those who may find themselveses in some form of trouble. i've always loved that. i keep that expression behind my desk. today i believe there are a lot of people in the united states of america, who ought to flee street of london and financial capitals in the world whose goal is accumulate money for sake of accumulating money and not for the sake of utilizing it to help their fellow man and woman and to help mankind.

if there is a goal beyond making money, then it's really fun. it's fun and enjoyable and you work twice as hard and especially newsed and excited. but if it is for the sake of accumulation of money you lose the spirit. >> glenn: you thought when you went to apollo and said guys, guys, i know you want out of the deal but this money is all going to cure cancer, this is all going to charity. you really thought, if i'm not mistaken -- because i thought to you after that -- you thought they were going to go, oh, oh, it's charity! didn't you? >> i kind of did. yes. >> glenn: i didn't, john. it didn't think they would make that change. i was in his office and it's like this museum on the first floor. this is a global headquarters.

at the end of the hallway, there were gold records. what are these gold records? did you sing at some point? you were the first ktel guy. right? >> right. i had to come up with something fast, some innovation in my mind to create the wealth. my father was a rural school teacher in idaho. i didn't have a rich uncle. so i had to have money to start the plastic and kel cam business so i came up with the idea to sell the phonograph record over television. we sold millions of them. this was in the late '60s and we utilized that money to get in the -- >> glenn: you were the first to put together compilation album. >> right. >> glenn: you put together the christmas album. i remember from my childhood growing up, we had some of these. little did i know it was going to an evil, evil corporation. >> yeah. then you took that money and

you did this. >> we made some of the first plastic products in america. yes. >> glenn: this was yours. >> mcdonald's. >> glenn: mcdonald's. when you found out that was bad for the environment, what happened? >> i'm not sure it is bad for the environment. >> glenn: this hacks people off on the left. i like to have sire row foam bonfires, but that's just me. >> the point is in many ways you are recycle the product and use it over and over again, number one. number two, you have to say what provides the freshness and the cleanliness for the food you're about to partake of? this is cleaner and fresher.

people are confused about plastics. if you reuse it, you can use it 10, 20, 30 times over again. plastics is a wonderful product. we could not live in today's world without plastic, because of medical supplies, bicycles, computers. host of the environmentalists against the plastics, they ride up on their bicycle and got the plastic outfit on and the plastic helmet on.

>> glenn: i was talking to john huntsman about plastics and i felt like "it's wonderful life." george, take all the money you have and put it in plastics! there is one man in my life who has been a mentor of biblical proportions. john huntsman. he is the guy that givings me the confidence to know that you don't have to cut corners. you can make ethical decisions. even if it seems like you lose at the time you'll win. a guy who believes that a handshake is enough.

look a man in the eye and shake his hand. i think that is the kind of country that we, most of us at least want to be. the founder and executive chairman of huntman corporation, foubdzer of the cancer institute and author of the book you must read "winners never cheat." john, i want to take you to there was never a time you thought, i'm just going to cut this corner? i'm just going to cut this corner? i'm just going to compromise here? >> you have asked me a question about cutting corners but i have to say something that may be out of whack, out of place. one of the finest men i've met in my life is glenn beck. >> glenn: stop. he's avoiding the question. he's obviously cut corners. >> listen, listen. your audience doesn't know this. i have been fishing with you, i've been in the mountains with you, i've been alone with you. you and i have had discussions on everything from religion to space to families.

we've tried together, we've laughed together. you're one of the finest, sweetest, good men, good men glenn beck i've ever met. [ applause ] >> glenn: thank you. thank you. >> glenn: so mr. huntsman, you have avoided the question. because you told me the story of shell, which cost you how much money? you were selling part of the chemical company to shell. >> great lakes chemical company. yes. >> glenn: you agreed on a price and shook hands on the deal. can you tell the story? >> i can. i don't want to sound self-serving, glenn. and this in a nutshell, i used to sell a part of my business every three or four years and i'd buy it back when things were good. on one occasion, i sold 40% of our country. and the business was quite large at this time.

i sold 40% of it. we agreed on price of $54 million. they sold it to great lakes chemical company from lafayette, indiana. it took six months for the legal people, the lawyers to get around to the contract. by the time they got to the contract, the price of the petro chemicals and the products have gone straight up. the value of that 40% piece of the business was now worth $250 million. because earnings had increased dramatically. >> glenn: you shook hands with him. you had no contract. $54 million. >> we shook hands on day one, our ceo and i shook hands. he came back after the six months and say it's been six months, my fault. my attorneys didn't move fast enough. i'll tell you what i'll do. the business has gone up dramatically and let's split the difference between $54 million and $250 million. and you get, let's say it's

$125 million and i'll pay you that because you're entitled to more than $54 million. i said no, no. we shook hands. all i expect is $54 million. in my heart of hearts i never thought about beyond $54 million. >> there is no one around you going john, shut up? >> probably a few. [ laughter [ laughter ] >> it never occurred. it wasn't something that you thought about. >> glenn: how do you teach that? i know you give money to wharton school of business. they are having a hard time to teach ethics. they don't understand. is this good or this good? they'll say this makes more money, this is good. it's not ethical. how do you teach it? >> first i had shaken his hand and then i made an agreement with him and it was embodied in my own head an agreement is an agreement.

he never got over it. and when he passed away his wife had me speak at his funeral, with the governor of indiana, evan bayh. people said that's unusual. no, it's not. what is unusual about being honest? it isn't that i'm trying to sound self-serving. but you -- there is just an ethical aspect about life that if we're straight with each other, we're straight with our god and straight with our family and straight with our wife and children. >> glenn: you don't believe the okay, he is telling a lie in his personal life but his personal life doesn't matter. this is business. you don't believe in that. >> you can't operate under two standards. i don't believe that. no. >> glenn: back in a second.

♪ fare thee well ♪ farewell ♪ mr. gloom be on your way ♪ ♪ though you haven't any money you can still be bright and sunny ♪ ♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪

♪ hah

people. it starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern. now back to glenn beck in new york. ♪ ♪ >> glenn: john hunts isman founder of cancer institute and a good friend of mine who has taken me under his swing. i didn't know anything about -- i don't know much about anything, quite honestly. john and i met five years ago. john was in the nixon administration. you're like hmm, that doesn't match. except he was the one guy who when that all went down, everyone on the hill and in the white house said not to question him. there is no way he would have been a part of anything like that.

his reputation has been golden for a long time. when we were together recently, john told me a story that i knew but not very well, because i just didn't know it. i didn't want to pry and i didn't want to ask. but he told me a story about something that happened in his life. i want to tell you why he told me after he relates the story to you. it's and kidnapping in the family. your son was kidnapped. >> yes. >> glenn: can you tell the story. >> i've never told it before on television, so forgive me if i get emotional, because it brings bab -- it conjures up a few, a few things that -- it was, i had just given a

large amount of money to an institution to help and i hadn't realized in giving money sometimes that people track the source of the money and they find your address and they find your home and scope it out. as did he people for several days. they found that my wife and i were gone and some of our children were home. they had come home early to go to school, it was during the christmas holidays. we were at the plant, facilities, visiting with some associates. they took one of our sons when he walked out -- they would have taken anyone who walked out at that point many time to our driveway and put a pillow case over him and then put masking tape around his hands and took him to a place with a knife in his throat and then called his brother.

his brother happens to be many audience with us today. he and i haven't talked about this. for over 20 years. in any vent he called and said his brother would be killed and cut into little pieces if his father didn't give $1 million in ransom. i was on the other side of the country. they finally called me. we flew home all night and met with the f.b.i. i called him. we had them stationed around our state, around our home. we put our other children under protective custody. they were in different part of the world. some were missionaries and students and we didn't know what was going on.

the next morning i was called and asked for the random. it had to keep them on the line as long as i could. this was one of the times i was glad i was a reasonably good negotiator because i could keep them on the time until they located him. the f.b.i. went in and took the knife at my son's throat and put it inside of an f.b.i.'s stomach and cut him in two, literally. he was bleeding to death. they got him to a hospital quickly. saved his life but they had to retire from the f.b.i. they gave him the highest award from the f.b.i. we did get our son back and no money was paid. wi were grateful. >> glenn: what did you do when you first got your son home?

>> well, i hugged him. you know. >> glenn: and after you were there with the marks on your sons neck, and you hugged him and you cried, you called the family together. >> right. >> glenn: got down on your knees. >> that's right. and prayed that not only for thanks, but also you've told me that you prayed as a family. that this event would never be remembered by the family. connected to charity. what did you mean like that? >> we were not going to let an event such as this stop us from giving money to charity. and from making charity our princip principal driving force in life.

there will be a lot of good deeds that go, that are punished in one way or another. people have to realize that when they give money, they sometimes are targets. that's to okay. but the fact that -- it's never the amount of money one gives. it's the spirit. in which they give. sometimes it's money and sometimes it's themselves and often times it's their personal time and effort. bub the greatest gift -- but the greatest gift you can give, we meant we were not going to ever be detoured in our efforts to make a difference in the lives of others. simply because somebody tried to take advantage of us. because of a charitable act.

>> glenn: i want to share with the audience next.

>> glenn: we're here with my good friend john huntsman senior. the best man i know. we were just sharing a story. he shared a story that he hasn't shared before. he shared it with me on the back porch of his home. do you remember when you shared, john? >> yes. >> glenn: we were looking at the river and you told me the story.

we were going through struggles in our life. and things had been a little dicey with what i do. you told me that story and you said to me don't ever let things change you. don't let the bad events change you. >> i remember. don't klos off your heart. i was out in august in salt lake city. they went to the cancer institute for some check-ups. practically turned me inside out. i think just had a dorito stuck in my chest some place. john was worried about me and

brought me to his office. i was getting ready to leave. john, i didn't get a chance to stay goodbye to him. it found out the reason why, he was busy while i was at his hospital. he was busy opening up a battered women's shelter in the town. he knew if i was told i would want to come down. and see that and be there. if that is true, you're right. i was smoked at you that you didn't tell me that. john taught me, the first thing he taught me was you have to care about the entire human condition. it can't be just about one thing, it has to be about all of it.

i hope to be able to do that. i want to make a play to you, whatever it is this holiday season, no matter how little you have, or how much to share it. it makes things meaningful. i think the less you have, the more meaningful it becomes. karen has told a story, karp is john's wife. karen didn't know this. when you were first married and you were poor, you went without lunch. she divvied out the money and gave him lunch money every day and you dropped it off in a mailbox at the neighbor's house. who was worse off than you

were. you went without lunch for a while. how long? >> a while. quite a while. that's okay. >> glenn: yeah. me, i can drop a few l.b.s, you know what i'm saying. i don't know if i would have done that. it's the little stuff that matters. i would invite you to look for a charity in your own neighborhood or your own life. if you are concerned with cancer, the huntsman cancer institute is so unbelievably worth your investment. place where people are treated with dignity and you don't find it often. it's a place i'd want to go if i had cancer. john said we'll cure cancer one day and i actually believe him. i will put my money where my

mouth is. john, tanya and i would like to give you $100,000 to the huntsman cancer foundation. [ applause [ applause ] >> you shouldn't have done that.

>> glenn: final couple minutes with billionaire, philanthropist, good guy and fisherman. kristen has a question for you. >> i do. how do you keep it balanced with family, work, charity? how do you do it? >> thank you very much. at the expense of sounding self-serving, which i hope i don't sound that way, you have to look at life as one entity, and they all flow together as one situation. i look at my family. i look at my faith. i look at giving. the scriptures tell us that

charity never fail. i believe we have to live our lives so that we all fit in the same box. instead of a box for charity and a box for work and box for family and a box for society -- >> glenn: that's why you don't believe in that a man can be split and be dishonest at home and honest the business dealings. >> that is correct. the basic premise, it's a good question. we can't separate ourselves from work or school or some other place, whether it's charity, because we have to give charity at work. we have to give charity at school. we have to be kind to others. graciousness is next to goodlessness. >> glenn: do the good guys win in the end? >> glenn: >> -- >> the reason i wrote the book, "winners never cheat." people say i know a lot of

people who cheat. but you know you're a winner and if you know you're a count, that's all that counts and you know you're a winner. >> glenn: i'd love to have you back and talk about business in the future. because things are changing in america. it's all good. [ applause ] back in a minute. [ male announcer ] you'd never leave your car unlocked. why would you leave your life unlocked? car theft is a serious crime, but for every car stolen, eleven people have their identity stolen. when you don't protect your identity, thieves can steal your money, your credit... and wreak havoc on your life. you can lock your identity right now with lifelock... the leader in identity protection. lifelock actively guards your critical personal information every second of every day... protecting your social security number, your bank accounts and credit, even the equity in your home... your most valuable personal assets.

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